Shari’s Gone Country

I love this time of year!

It’s that time when we take a minute (or an hour) to just sit and watch the sheep, the cow, the chickens we’re now letting truly free-range, and all the other wildlife.

Our little garden patches yielded goodies this year for the first time in three years. We’ve been enjoying ripe tomatoes, fresh potatoes, broccoli, carrots, lettuce, onions and garlic. Our corn may not make it in time, and the eggplant is questionable.

Once again, we planted winter squash (spaghetti, acorn and butternut) in hopes we’ll get not only enough for ourselves, but also enough to take to market.

Ever the optimist, Cindy planted watermelon, the small seedless variety in hopes of getting at least one ripe melon. We’ve been covering them, as well as the squash, every night since our first frost Sept 1.

Over Labor Day weekend, we rented a tractor (they call them skip loaders in this area) with a bucket and a grading box so we could rearrange some of our sand and clean out part of the sheep pen. We had to go to St George to pick it up on Friday afternoon, but were able to keep it until the following Tuesday morning. For the weekend, we could use it 8 hours. Additional hours cost extra… no problem!

What follows is a snapshot of what was and now, what is.

We smoothed off a lot of “dunes and tumbleweeds” around the horse corral as well as made “homes” for each stack of hay (72 bale stacks… that’s a little over 4 tons per stack).

Before…

After…

This afternoon about 2:25, Buttercup slipped into to the world. Yes, even as we were watching from a short distance, Sweetie Pie gave out a big, long Mooo-o-o-o-o-o and presented us with the cutest little heifer.

When we got Sweetie Pie (previously named Cowgirl), we knew she was very pregnant, as in two weeks away the week before we got her home.

She joined us Sunday afternoon and we’ve given her quite a bit of space, letting her get acquainted with the sheep. Now, I didn’t really expect her to deliver today. I’d have bet on closer to the weekend.

She was a little “off feed” last night, and this morning. I was closely observing her and noticed her “pin bones” were really protruding. Later, a neighbor stopped by and we noticed “the shoestrings”, a light mucous discharge. At that point Bruno also saw a contraction.

I went on an immediate “calf watch”. Mom and I came out and she was laying against the fence towards our driveway. Soon she got up and moved into her little shelter and  pawed the ground a few times. At that point, I thought I’d better check the internet for some specific instructions.

Would you believe I got the instructions printed off, gave them to Cindy to read and headed back out in a matter of minutes. Upon arriving at our “patio under the trees” I thought maybe she’d let me get a closer look. After all, she was laying down about half-way into her shelter.

Imagine my surprise when I saw “front feet”… She was in full labor. I quickly called Bev, Cindy and Mom. My the time they got out with the camera, the head was just ready to come out.

Bev got on the phone to the previous owners while the rest of us continued to observe. We all decided to back off again, retiring to our patio. Shortly, she let out one big, long mooo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o. That was about 2:24 and within less than five minutes I saw a head moving… The calf was on the ground!

Just like she knew what she was doing, Sweetie Pie began cleaning her up. We hadn’t added any straw as we figured  the calf would come tomorrow. Besides, we weren’t sure we could get into her pen without creating a problem.

Once we were certain she was intent on cleaning little Buttercup, we threw a fair amount of straw into her shelter. Sweetie Pie has done absolutely everything by the book… You’d have thought she wrote the book!

Within an hour, Buttercup was on her feet looking for dinner and that ever-important colostrum. My how she suckled.  You could hear her from about 15 feet away.

Already, we’ve had most of the neighbors over to see our little Buttercup. With her, we’ll now be able to raise her up, not re-breeding Sweetie Pie, who will become our dinner in about 9 months. This is exactly what was planned when we got her. She won’t make the best steaks and roasts in the world, but her burger will be outstanding.

For the first time in three years, we’ve successfully raised some veggies!

That had us “looking at our options”, since canning or freezing much isn’t really part of Mom’s plan. She is happy to put up a small amount (if she’s in the mood and feeling well enough) of things like jam, pickled beets, etc. Only one problem. We didn’t raise any fruit or beets.

We have successfully raised shallots; garlic; white, yellow and red onions; potatoes; a few tomatoes; broccoli, and soon we’ll have loads of squash.

Our neighbor, Jill, who’s a life-long resident here got us interested in the Cedar City Farmers’ Market. It’s an informal affair on Saturday mornings. Held in a local business’ parking lot, we all set up our tables and wait for the crowds… and they do arrive.

I’ve been selling our sheep fleeces as “garden mulch”. Ok, it’s not what you would normally think of… but think this way… awesome moisture retention, great insulation, and a long-term nitrogen source, as well as a good “soil conditioner”.

We’ve been taking several dozen eggs from “Mom’s Hen House” and never, ever come home with any. Of course, we keep her money separate and make sure she get’s it. Oh, also this past month, I had another article published in Small Town Living. This time, it was “Mom’s Hen House”!

With four lambs left, I’ve made up some flyers and hopefully will sell them privately (at the market) for custom butchering. If not, they go to auction the first Thursday in September. They’re about 80 lbs now, and that’s perfect for really tender, tasty lamb.

Besides that, I need their space.

Meet our new addition… who’s about to bring us another addition. We picked her up yesterday afternoon. We’ve been told she’s due anytime between now and the end of the first week of September.

Her original name is “Cowgirl”, but as soon as Mom settles on a new name, it will officially change. I’ve been calling her “Sweetie Pie”.

She’s a 2 1/2 year old Corriente/Texas Longhorn cross and is bred to a big ol’ Herford. “Curly”, the daddy weighs about 2000 lbs. Sure hope she doesn’t have any issues with calving… we’re really rookies on this one.

The plan is to raise her calf (assuming it’s a bull calf) for meat. We’ll re-breed her in a month, so we can get a “summer calf”. If we get a heifer, we’ll probably not re-breed her, rather take her to auction when we can. I’m not sure if we want to bottle-feed a baby as we head into winter, here.

Mom said today, our farm is now complete. She has no desire for pigs, ducks, turkeys, peacocks, guinea fowl, or cats. As for me, I still want a donkey to guard the sheep.

On a sad note, this past Thursday, we lost a ewe lamb to apparent bloat. She was fine in the evening, and I think I saw her early in the morning, but found her in the shelter, still warm, but very dead. That means we’ll go into breeding season with four full ewes being bred and possibly three ewe lambs. It’s always questionable whether or not a ewe lamb will breed before she turns one year old (next April).